Quick update almost a month later: all my A15 devices run great on iOS 26.2 (final build 23C55) and, now I can finally say, with better battery life than on 18.7. Also on 18.7 the device would heat up from time to time, while on 26.2 it remains cold all the time.
I really recommend to upgrade to 26.2 on your A15 devices (iPhone 13, 13 mini, 14 and SE 3).
Next, it will be the time to finally upgrade my beloved M2 iPad Pro, which shares the same core architecture as the A15 SoC. I don’t know if I’ll enjoy the new iPadOS windowed experience but… I think this is the best moment to upgrade and stay there until Apple releases the rock solid, Snow Leopard style iOS/iPadOS 27.
Although, who knows, if 26.3 runs equally well and it’s the minimum version required for the Creators Studio bundle, maybe I’ll update one of my devices to see how it goes.
But for now, 26.2 is running fantastic.
I suspect the great performance and efficiency on this devices, or at least the SE 3, is that some GPU taxing animations such as the reflections on the edge of the Home Screen icons and widgets are disabled. I mean, the reflections are there but they are static, always in the same position (top left and bottom right corners) and don’t change with the phone movement. I’m guessing Liquid Glass is also somehow toned down to not tax the GPU in excess… I don’t know if this was this way on earlier versions of iOS 26, but on 26.2 this elements are static, so I guess that helps.
